How Online Gaming Affects Ones Work Life and Personal Life - Coursework Example

How online gaming affects one’s work life and personal life? Introduction In ancient times, people played with sticks and rocks. Life today is very different from ages ago in so many ways. Progress has improved the lives of people and the environment. A lot of this change is because of technology. Inventions like the television, computer, and the Internet have given society different forms of entertainment. Society became very amused and pleased with seeing interaction between characters on a screen. It was a welcome change from observing the people around them. Because progress and change are continuous, this desire for entertainment also evolved, specifically the leisure activities available in one’s game console or computer. From simple console games like Dig Dug, Pitfall and Super Mario Brothers to computer games such as Minesweeper, Freecell, and Solitare, technology started giving people more interactive games like those on the Nintendo Wii, Xbox and Playstation. The creation of the Internet had a very big influence on this kind of leisure activity. As computer programmers and software developers become more skilled, they started developing games where the Internet played a big role. With online games, a person still played on his or her computer. But, with online games, this person could be playing simultaneously with millions of other players all over the world. Meeting new people is one of the many appeals of online gaming. As well as using online gaming as a form of stress relieving or to escape from the pressures of everyday life. However, there is also a negative effect of online gaming on a person. An example would be that it has been observed to be a risk to someone’s well-being. It can also affect people’s relationships as the gamer is focused more on gaming than real life. Truly, online gaming has brought both good and bad to a person’s life, at home and at the office. Background As far back as the 1950s, computers were already used for playing games. (Bellis n.d.) The first game was a computerized version of the classic Tic-Tac-Toe game and was presented as a video arcade game (Bateman, 2014). These kinds of games later became more sophisticated. They also became more interesting and more animated. As technology became more advanced, it made the quality of the first computerized games even better. It was not long until they started showing up in restaurants like, Pizza Hut, and eventually what was to be known as the Arcade. Which were rooms that were filled with lots of computer games in areas that had a high volume of people. This in turn expose them too many more people and allowed them integrate into everyday lives and households where they became as common as a television or toaster. One distinct difference is how a person could now play with more than one person. When computer games started out, a person could only play with another person as long as they sat beside each other and took turns. With the creation of computer networks, several people are now able to compete against each other even if they are in different rooms. With the creation of the Internet, they have upgraded to playing with other people in different parts of the world. Another very big improvement is how the players can do more inside a game. The use of sophisticated software have made these games more complicated and challenging for the users. Players can build farms, claim empires, fly, make animals do things, and many more. Also, the visuals are not flat. Now, they are 2D or 3D which makes the players feel they were really moving within the game. The highly-advanced online computer games have motivated people to be more creative, practice decision-making skills, analyse more, and feel encouraged to step up in the game. Unfortunately, they have also made people become too attached to doing all these activities. Online games have become a source of concern in society because of the negative effect observed from enthusiasts. (Sun, 2011). Advantages Online gaming brings several new experiences to the player that other traditional games cannot. The first of these would be establishing relationships. Online games encourage the creation of forums or communities. Through these groups, a player can feel a sense of belonging. Because these communities meet online and the Internet is always available, players can talk to other players very often. They share personal details and become very familiar with each other. (Mr A Raines 2015, pers.comm., 19 Mar) They also help each other out in the game. In fact, some say that they have met their closest friends or life partners thanks to online gaming. A research on the involvement of online video games in friendships discovered that shy people often use online games as a way to meet other people. (Campbell 2014) The study was completed by German psychologists. Comparisons were made between the gaming patterns of shy and friendly individuals. The researchers found out that those who were shy had more friends they had met online. Another good experience online gaming brings is that it teaches the players new skills. Even before technology became part of society, games have been used to help in education. (Moursund, 2006) Board puzzles, for example, help the player practice critical thinking. Other games encourage the player to make strategies. Since online games provide more opportunities for learning, these have been included in the classrooms. In a study on K-8 teachers and their behaviour towards video games in the classroom, it was discovered that some teachers felt comfortable and eager to use online games in their classes. (Shapiro 2014) For example, online games like Farmville and Pet Society teach players the value of patience because the players need to spend a lot of time and effort taking care of their properties. Games like Candy Crush, Bejeweled, and Escape the Room teach players how to make strategies and look for clues. It has been proven that games, online as well as offline, have been used to educate people because these allow for “computational thinking.” (Moursund, 2006) In an article on the relationship between computer games and educating children, Yasmin Kafai (2008) claimed that the amount of time people spent in front of the computer instead of watching television or doing homework is very significant. This situation is very true. Unfortunately, this is also the reason online gaming has become a big social problem. Disadvantages Online games are very popular. This situation is easy to understand. As mentioned earlier, there are many good things online games bring to players. Thanks to online video games, people now have more close relationships. Also, online games allow people to improve their thinking skills. However, the time and money people spend on these online games has worried society. There are several major problems such as: the health and well-being of the players, online gambling, digital divide, and corporate social responsibility. The health and well-being of the players In South Korea alone, there have been many recorded cases of online gaming addiction. Among these are the deaths of a couple of gamers because they had spent more time playing online than sleeping, getting fresh air, and eating. (Sun 2011) The government of South Korea has become so alarmed that it has imposed the “Cinderella Law”. (Lee 2011) According to the new rule, gaming access will not be given for people below 16 years old after midnight. This is to address the problem of online game addiction in the country. Statistics show that 8% of South Koreans who are 9 to 39 years old are addicted to the Internet. (Lee 2011) The community does not agree with the new rule. Internet users feel that the rule is unfair because the government is taking away something that makes people happy. Others feel the new rule is useless because it would not really stop teenagers from finding other ways to access the Internet during those times. This addiction is not only observed in this particular Asian country. It seems the interest in online gaming is happening around the world. Researchers at universities in the United Kingdom said that the online game companies should do something to prevent addiction or gamers in the United Kingdom would also be addicted like those in Asia. (BBC News 2013) Led by cyber psychologist Dr. Zaheer Hussain, the research group discovered that even if the numbers are not alarming now, it may grow soon because online games are improved. According to the researchers, the more interesting the games become, the higher the numbers of gaming addicts will be. In the United States, about 8.5 percent of youths are addicted to video games, spending more time on these than their homework, according to a study by researchers at Iowa State University. (St. George 2009) Before the study was conducted, researchers thought that parents were just being too dramatic about the kids’ behaviour towards playing video games. The group was surprised and alarmed to see that the complaints were true. Children who were between 8 to 18 years old spent a lot of time on video games that they showed bad behaviour. The researchers set 11 symptoms to base their observation on and decided that children who showed 6 out the 11 symptoms were addicted. The results show that there may be 3 million out of the 45 million children in the age group that may be addicted to video games. (St. George 2009) Addiction to online games can bring very bad effects to the health of the gamer. As mentioned earlier, it can even lead to death. Some addicted gamers spend more than twenty hours playing straight in front of their computers. The South Korean man who collapsed in an Internet café while playing Starcraft had supposedly played the game for 50 hours with few breaks. (BBC News 2005) The doctors assume that his death was because exhaustion made his heart stop working. It is very easy to become very focused on online games like Starcraft and World of Warcraft. These two games are examples of MMORPGs or massively multiplayer online role playing games. This means one person can be a character and coordinate, collaborate, and fight with or against other people also playing characters. These people can be all over the world, but playing in one game all at the same time. These games not only affect the physical body of the gamer. It also has a negative impact on the behaviour and mind of the gamer. In the Iowa study, the researchers also discovered that the addicted gamers displayed negative attitudes. Addicted gamers do not want to be disturbed. For some games, if a gamer stops playing, his character could get killed or his property could be taken away from him. (Mr A Raines 2015, pers.comm., 19 Mar) For example, in MMORPGs, if a player takes his or her eyes away from the game even for a second, his or her character can be killed by another character. A good example would be Call of Duty, an MMORPG which is set in warfare. Because of this setting, a player has to be constantly in his or her character. A break could mean virtual death. The players become too attached to their characters in the virtual world. When there is a barrier between them and access to their characters and what they have to do, the gamers become frustrated or easily irritated. For example, maybe the gamer and his group of online friends have a set time they plan to accomplish a major task, but because one of the players misses the appointed time no one gets to finish the task and therefore everyone misses out. This can be especially true if the event may only come around once a year, so that creates more stress for the gamer. Another behaviour that may be alarming is a gamer’s spending habits on the online game. Gamers find it easy to spend on games like Café World, Farmville, or Pet Society just to make their properties bigger or their pets look more beautiful. It does not make that much of a dent in some gamers’ wallet to buy a new pair of shoes or a new hat for their pets or buy seeds or tractors for their farms. (Ms T Tan 2015, pers.comm., 19 Mar) This is true, but it could become worse. An article on virtual spending says that small purchases like these actually total to a very significant amount, with the market expecting $5 billion in 2009. (Firth 2009) Online gaming can also affect the person’s mind. They can make decisions that are not logical to people who are not addicted to games. For example, one couple in South Korea took care of their virtual baby, more than their real baby. A study on the effects of Internet addiction on the brain showed that there is a physical change in the brain if one spends too much time on the Internet. (Raslow 2012) Although the study does not directly relate to the issue of online gaming, it is still important to the topic. If a person is an addicted online gamer, then he or she spends more time than what is healthy being on the Internet. The research showed that something foreign develops in the part of the brain that can affect decision-making, emotions, and self-control. The group says the effect on the person is similar to what happens to a person addicted to alcohol and drugs. Online gambling The negative effect of online gaming does not end with just affecting the person’s body or mind. Addiction to online gaming can make the person spend money, too. Several online games require gamers to buy something to improve their status in the game. Other online games like Candy Crush give players an option to buy tickets to forward their progress or go to the next level faster or sooner. Still, there are also online games like Poker Stars where players can join tables that require real money. In the same game, there are also tables that use virtual money, but give the players an option to buy virtual chips with real money. Online gambling in itself is not bad. In fact, some people find these better than actual gambling because they still experience the excitement of spending money and getting a lot of money, but they do not really spend any of their real money. (Ms T Tan 2015, pers.comm., 19 Mar). Also, they do not need to get out of the house and drive over to Las Vegas or a place with slot machines and card tables. Also, online gambling gave the player privacy. For example, if he or she were in an online poker match, he or she did not have to hide facial expressions or body movements because these would not affect his or her game. There are many online gambling sites people can play on. There does not seem to be strict rules to stop people from gambling online. For instance, the federal law in the United States says that Internet gambling is illegal. However, the states of Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware have passed laws making online gambling legal in their territories, and California and Pennsylvania have proposals about online gambling. (Finger, R 2013) This could be because of the interpretation of the Wire Act of 1961 by former U.S. assistant attorney general Virginia Seitz. Ms. Seitz said that the law only stopped gambling or betting on race horses, and not on other forms like poker. (Goodman 2014) This decision has made parents worried because now anybody, even kids, can go and play on the unrestricted gambling sites like Poker Stars. Citizens feel that Seitz’s interpretation of the Wire Act just will just encourage or promote online gambling. Although the rate of addiction to online gambling in America is not as high as that in Japan and the United Kingdom, many Americans think it will not be too long before the numbers change. In Singapore, online gambling is not yet illegal, and not very popular. But there is “The Remote Gambling Bill” which can be the law to make Internet and telephone gambling against the law. (Cheong 2014) Surprisingly, the gambling community is taking a different approach on the matter. Online gambling companies are encouraged by the public to start monitoring games for addicts to keep them out of the games. This initiative is possibly to show the government that the bill is not needed anymore. Otherwise, the bill will make all online gambling activities against the law in Singapore. Some citizens, however, say the bill will just make people look for other means to gamble online. They could even just use illegal websites that use bookers. Gambling is also very common in the United Kingdom because of the Internet. It was observed that people go on virtual betting on horse or dog races and online casino games more than twice a week. (Chalabi 2014) Based on this information, it is safe to say that the people in the United Kingdom enjoy more freedom in participating in online gambling activities. In fact, gambling addicts in Britain have increased in number in just a few years and this has alarmed government officials. They are currently thinking of ways to make the number go down because there have been situations where citizens committed crimes just to pay for their gambling debts. Like how online games affect the gamers mind and body, the same can be said for online gambling. The interesting thing in online gaming is not really the games themselves. It is the excitement being in a competition that makes players addicted to it. Much like the adrenalin rush for gamers on MMRPGs, those who gamble feel a high whenever they win. When they are on a winning streak, they are like the gamers who cannot stop playing because their characters might die. For the gamblers, they do not want to break the winning streak. In this sense, they are different from those who spend money on Farmville or Candy Crush. In these simple online games, there is no competition that requires an individual to have money to enjoy the game. An individual can play and enjoy the game without spending money. If he or she wants to buy a ticket or a tractor, it is only because he or she is too lazy to wait to move forward in the game. On the other hand, for online gambling, there is a need to spend if one wants to actually play the game. Although some sites do allow someone to spend virtual money, the habit of spending this may carry-over to real money when the addiction happens. It would be so easy to start playing in real money tables, especially if one keeps winning in the virtual money tables. (Mr A Raines 2015, pers.comm., 19 Mar). This is understandable. The gambler can think that his or her luck with the virtual money may work with real money. Once it does not, the gambler tries again and again, not taking notice that he or she is actually using real money. What is important for the addicted gambler is to figure out why the lucky streak is working or why it is not, so he or she can win the competition and feel that excitement. Corporate social responsibility. The effect of online games in the workplace can be positive or negative. The factors that can determine these would be how online games are used and the users’ behaviour. MMORPGs that make the gamer take on the role of a military personnel can actually help in treating post-traumatic stress disorder. As presented earlier, these kinds of online games are presented in 2D or 3D formats. Because of these, those who are experiencing PTSD can come to terms with the experience they had during conflict. They can also fire weapons without actually hurting anybody. This activity would even help them find peace within themselves. Because it is very close to the current situations, a lot of thought is put into creating online games that involve conflict situations. From the uniforms to the scenes, the games are made to represent as close to the real situations as possible. (Shaban 2013) This depiction is also good for civilians because they can get an idea on what their family members who go to war experience. These can make them relate to family members with PTSD in a better way. Another way online gaming can be beneficial to the corporate world is when companies use these as a form of relaxation for their employees. The most popular example for this would be Google headquarters. Ever since the newspapers and Internet revealed what happens in Google’s Silicon Valley offices, employers have had to consider the effect on employees of such kind of working environment. The place has a games room, aside from many other exciting features, to encourage employees to be relaxed while working. (Wakefield 2008) It could be said that Google bosses think the happier their employees are, the more productive they are going to be. Still another way online gaming has influenced corporate social responsibility is by helping companies save on money and time through telecommuting. The next practice was inspired by the use of animated characters in online games and the online game platform. Second Life is a virtual world created to help people gather, build their environment, and discuss things. The creators of this virtual world designed the software so that participants could create avatars of themselves. The participants can also fix up their environment so they could have a meeting at an office, café, house, etc. All of these are supposed to help facilitate the participants’ gathering. They could make it more comfortable for them. For example, if a CEO is in his pajamas at home, but needs to meet another officer in a Second Life room, the CEO can dress up his avatar in a business suit. Virtual meetings are possible with Second Life or Venuegen’s virtual room service and office workers can meet with each other without leaving the offices. (Needleman, 2010) This saves companies much money on airfares and hotel fees. This also helps the environment by lessening the travels by plane or by car. Most especially, this saves the person a lot of time and effort because he or she can just put on a headset and go online to attend a meeting in any part of the world. Sometimes, he or she might not be so smartly dressed. Like every good thing, there is also a bad thing online gaming has brought to the workplace. Productivity in the workplace can be at risk because of online game addiction. With the introduction of smartphones worldwide, the temptation to go online and play games on one’s cellular phone is a very real thing. In the Philippines, almost everyone is on their phones and they are either sending text messages, checking their email, or playing games online to pass the time. (Mr A Raines 2015, pers.comm., 19 Mar) For online gaming addicts, they may fail to perform well because they had spent the previous night on an online game. The man from South Korea who collapsed in an Internet café was actually fired from his job because of absences, according to his family. Online gaming addicts find it hard to remove themselves from the virtual world they become immersed in. It also does not help that some players in the same game are in different time zones. It is morning time in the player’s country and he or she cannot risk losing something important in the game. Because the other players in the game are enjoying the night time, the addicted online gamer will have a hard time deciding to go to work or not. If he or she does go to work, the addicted gamer’s mind would be on the virtual world he did not want to leave. If he or she decide not to go to work, this may eventually become a habit, especially if his or her absence from work results to a good thing in the virtual world. The gamer will think missing work was worth it. Of course, in the real world, the gamer loses his or her job. Online gaming can also ruin relationships at work and may cost companies if a gamer is responsible for major decisions. As presented earlier, the behaviour of the addicted gamer is greatly influenced. Because of this, the gamer’s attitude towards his or her colleagues may be negative. Also, if he or she gets additional stress from work, this may cause more problems for the addictive gamer because his or her mind is already dealing with the possible problems happening because he or she left the virtual world. Corporate social responsibility dictates that companies make sure their practices will not be a disadvantage to society. They should make sure that their practices do no promote or encourage social issues. As part of the society, corporations should try and help society through their practices. For online gaming, corporate social responsibility forces companies to implement rules on Internet usage. Restrictions should be put in place. In some workplaces, firewalls are the solution. In others, the company’s IT department should be tasked to monitor the Internet usage of employees, especially in this generation. Today it would be very rare to see an office that had no computers or Internet connection. If so, then it would be very easy for employees to just go online to play games on dead hours. If they become addicted, they may even play during busy hours and neglect their tasks. To fulfil their duty to society when it comes to online gaming, corporations should be forceful in implementing rules. For companies like Google, who use online gaming in a positive way, there should still be rules so employees would not abuse this privilege. In the kind of set-up Google has, it would be very easy for employees to be addicted to online games because these are available to them the whole day. For businesses that expose their employees to online games, they should also make sure there are limitations so addiction would not develop. Companies that create online games or sell these should find a way to help society with online gaming addiction. They should also make sure that the online games they produce do something to better the lives of those who play them. Good examples of these would be online games that teach children how to read, count, draw, etc. There are also online games that help in treating disorders like PTSD and ADHD. Ultimately, corporations should do their role in helping society deal with the problem of online gaming addiction. This is most important for businesses that develop and distribute online games. They should not stop with just releasing another online game to entertain their users. Conclusion It is very easy to become addicted to online games. These provide an escape for people regardless of race, sex, nationality, or language. One can say that online games have become a perfect drug for people of all ages. Because online games are a product of technology, people and business, every member of society must work together to meet the influence of this form of entertainment. It is not to say that online games are bad for society. But the addiction that is formed when on these games are what gives society a problem. Online gambling sites as well offer a no barriers way to experience gambling while avoiding many of the dangers that may exist in casinos or underground gambling locations. While there are many positive results and intentions there are unfortunately many negative ones as well. As stated previously, online additions like MMORPGs and gambling can hurt the individual. These can also greatly affect the relationship of the individual with both loved ones, families and co-workers. Gambling especially since it can lead to a financial crisis that could wreak havoc for years or even cost a person their life. As technology and the ease of online interaction becomes more commonplace, there is going to be an increased need for company regulations or monitoring to make sure companies make profits and at the same time keep their workers happy. Those who make a profit from creating online games have the responsibility to make their products helpful, and not destructive for their consumers. In addition, these companies will need to be more responsible and mindful of the information they provide. They should help to provide access for people that are addicted to their product. Ultimately, society, people and businesses will need to adapt to the digital age and all the benefits and problems, like online gaming, which come along with it. References: Bateman, C 2014, Meet Bertie the Brain, the world’s first arcade game, built in Toronto. Available from: http://spacing.ca/toronto/2014/08/13/meet-bertie-brain-worlds-first-arcade-game-built-toronto/. [19 Mar. 2015]. 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